American Society of Media Photographers warns about new Facebook T&Cs

Another day, another controversial change to Facebook's terms of service - this time, Facebook is planning to update its (very) smallprint in a way that some commentators worry greatly increase the company's power to exploit users' content and identities.

The American Society of Media Photographers has warned its members to 'beware' Facebook's proposed new terms of service, which - it claims - would allow the social media giant to 'exploit your name, likeness, content, images, private information, and personal brand by using it in advertising and in commercial and sponsored content - without any compensation to you'.

In a blog post structured as a question and answer format, the A.S.M.P. dissects Facebook's new proposed terms of service, explaining what the company has changed, what it might mean for photographers, and what concerned individuals can do to combat the changes.

Facebook's proposed terms of service are available to view online here.

The depressing answer is that if the changes are made official, there's nothing users can do directly, since according to the A.S.M.P. 'Facebook has specifically removed the language from their TOS that allows you to limit how your likeness, information, and content are associated with brands, commercial uses, or sponsored posts. They have also removed the clause that makes them subject to the privacy limits set in place by you on your profile.'

The A.S.M.P. suggests that members 'become informed', 'spread the word', and 'call for action' from other professional organizations with whom they work to 'ensure fair and respectful treatment of users by online services like Facebook and Instagram.'

Have you read Facebook's new proposed terms of service? Do you care? Did you even know about the changes being proposed? Let us know in the comments.

Comments

I've heard somewhere that Al Capone used to begin his telephone calls with "Good morning, everybody"... It was ages ago, and technology has, umm, advanced a bit since his heyday. So are we all slowly but surely being reduced to (potential) criminals? Is there any communication really secure, regardless of what anyone uses it for?Then I remember that human rights are just so much text, and there are so many schools about how to use, disfigure, twist and devalue the words. It finally boils down to old heat and kitchen advice.Technically, how do we know that site-building programs do not have discreet backdoor access? What makes us certain the phone is really "off"? The speaker is mute and the screen is blank?I can understand security agencies trying to stop crime by un-advertised means. But the companies being allowed to sell their products by privacy-invasive means, that's only another brazen step toward the next level of mass stupidity overproduction that we now accept as normal.

Since I received the message from FB, I was reluctant to leave my pictures on FB ... A week of reflection and reading your news have finally convinced me: I deleted almost all the pictures I shared ... Finally, I hope I have managed this maneuver! You never know what magic is capable FB!thank you dpreview

In theory FB has its uses as a means for decent people to stay in touch and professionals to help project what they do. To a small extent it succeeds.

However the reality is that its T&C are onerous for those same people and it often degenerates into an online slum when the losers and cowards use it to attack the unfortunate, the dead and each other. Lets be honest, most real people are too busy working and having lives to do anything more than the occasional post or peek and hopefully because they lead real lives their posts will be more interesting.

I do wonder what drivel some people put up there as they spend so much time on the site they cannot actually do anything, let alone anything interesting! It seems to be creating a pool of socially dysfunctional individuals who have 2000 friends but no real ones!

I have been tempted to use it for my emerging business, but not under these T&Cs

I still have my FB account but I have gone from using it all day every day to almost never over tha past year. What bothers me is, I have some ..what I thought..were great friends that I c in my "real"life and since I stopped using FB, it's almost as if they have forgotten there is a device called a T-E-L-E-P-H-O-N-E to use to ask me how I am, invite me to events or just talk. I signed on 2 days ago only to find out that they have invited lots of people to 2upcoming events that I would usually attend butI was not invited or asked at all! I called the person to ask her if I had done ssomething to offend her and I again told her that I don't use FB, for the 15th time. Her answer was that she has been soooo busy. Ummm..that makes no sense. So I said ok and goodbye. I write this because it just goes to show how much FB play's a part In people's lives.I've also had family members stop speaking to me because they posted something on FB and because I didn't see it and respond, I am, a selfish, useless, bi***. Nice huh? FB has been nothing but a curse in my life and I'm sure others as well. I am not a teen. I'm in my 40's and have a career. So, just a word of caution if you use FB as one of your main sources of communication or information.

Personally... I have a facebook account, but rarely log-in. I only have it because friends (actual friends) of mine will post things there, which I want to see, and I need an account to do it. (maybe once every 1-2 months)

Just remember - log out as soon as you're done. Some people think just closing their browser will log them out. Not so. Same deal with LinkedIn and many other sites.

Anyway, I don't think it's a big deal having a facebook account. It just depends on how you use it. They can't abuse your personal data if you don't post anything.

Personally, I don't care about their Terms of Service, or any other ToS (like G+, Flickr, or even DPReview). I just limit the quality of the images I upload, and only upload full-size versions to sites where I am in full control of the content and how it's used.

Dropping a social media account because of the ToS really is a last resort. The trick is to exploit social media without giving them a CHANCE to exploit you in a way you don't want them to. Ofcourse there'll always be exploitation in some way; social media sites have to pay their bills as well.

I've never had a Facebook account, so laugh every time one of these horror stories appears. I simply can't see the point of telling the whole world every time I go for a dump, or 'sharing' a false impression of my wonderful happy life and my overwhelming social standing. If you're stupid enough to give away all your personal details and photos on Facebook, stop whining when it gets used elsewhere.

Exactly! People inclined to social voyeurism don't understand that they're willingly participating in implementation of a wet dream for all kinds of Big Brothers. On the other hand they might even not recognize the reference. Ignorance is bliss :)

Some genuinely paranoid remarks below. Has there ever been a major legal dispute regarding someone's personal data and Facebook? I mean other than idiots posting stuff about their employers etc, has Facebook ever actually screwed someone over say for example over the copyright of their creative work, such as photography? All i'm reading is Facebook tightening up to safeguard themselves, not take control over our lives.

I'm actually quite curious, though may have not entirely grasped something in the article.

Has anyone in the EU - and not the US - done a proper analysis of the likelyhood of any of these changes being allowed? Data protection laws actually exist in the EU and while Facebook may claim to be a US business and so only subject to US laws (this was very recently, probably in conjunction with this change) I don't believe the lawyers will see it that way.

Don't forget DPReview is owned by one of the other big, evil, data sucking giants - Amazon.

I care, but I'm careful not to put much personal info on facebook for just this reason. I don't trust them at all, but I do want to keep up with friends all across the country. I especially will not put my best photos on there due to this type of thing. (Not that my best is very good. It's not. Still mine though.)

At present there are many people who do not know what to do with their lives without social networks like FB, G+ and others. These social networks are the reason for their existence often. What we have in social networks, shared phrases and tons of publicity, unless specific situations, in fact the people themselves, do not sharing something original and unique, they share what millions of people share, aaahh and make millions of Likes too...without talking.Social?

The reason I stopped posting pictures on FB a long time ago. Facebook's Terms and Rules basically allow them to do whatever they want with the content you post on the social media pages. I didn't put a single picture on FB since over a year, and judging from this latest modification to their rules, I'm not likely to change my mind about this anytime soon.

I understand that FB needs the user's approval to reproduce his/her contents on third party pages and apps. and that making specific rules each use and its limits wouldn't be manageable.

I could be possible to come up with a new Terms of service agreement that prevents the sharing of the content posted by user to be used for commercial purposes, except for those in direct relation with the marketing and promotion of FB services and its contents, or something of this sort. This would allow FB to use the users' contents without fear of constant legal issues, while preventing abuse at the same time.

It's really simple. Social networking sites are a marketer's wet dream and a dream for central planners and profile-building global spying agencies.

You (and your kids) are the product. Make no mistake about it. You are exploitable to the maximum extent of the law. In case you haven't noticed, there is no law. EVERYTHING you do online is being recorded, including your phone calls and Skype calls.

Your details, pics and associations are shared with many companies in back-room deals; you have agreed to this. If you are OK with your associations and content being exploited by marketers and shared with government, insurance and god-knows-what-else, continue using these 'free' services.

If you're OK with these spies spying on you, that's fine. Just don't say anything critical of your so-called leaders or you may find yourself on the receiving end of a big stick real quick.

You are not in charge of your content. Your content and activities are there to be sold and exploited.

Correct and we dont care. I dont do crime so it does not matter to me that all my movements are tracked by my cell phone, cameras at every intersection in town and license plate readers everywhere I go. The only thing that bothers me is everytime I google something, my email gets bombed with spam about whatever I did a google search for.

"I don't do anything wrong, so I don't have to worry that the state knows everything I do." Tell that to the literally millions of people who were killed by their governments in the 20th Century alone, simply because of who or what they were, not because of anything they did. In Hitler's Germany, all you had to be was an 'Untermensch', in Stalin's Soviet Union, peasants who were seen as an obstacle to collectivization. Tell that to the tens of thousands that are now being imprisoned or executed around the world today simply because of their ethnicity, religion, or politics.How can you know anything about history or current events and think that an authoritarian government waits to punish those it wishes to until they actually do something that would, in a free society, be considered a crime?

Trust me, you have and likely will and probably unknowingly commit a crime. There are laws on the books so outmoded, so outdated that they serve no relevance but are laws still on the books that you, I and most others probably have broken and will break.

This said, pavi1. if you have nothing to hide as you state then please answer me this? Would you allow the state to install closed circuit cameras and microphones throughout your house? After all you have nothing to hide right? So if you say " NO WAY!" what would be your reasoning then?

You see pavi1 most crime likely begins inside the four walls of a house and/or the four walls of a business office. It would be much easier for the authorities to have closed circuit cameras installed in peoples homes and/or offices. BUT! that does not equal good police work, nor any real added safety but will reduce you to living in an Orwellian police state.

Modern thoughts are to turn it as "I am my brother's keeper." That is we as people are to look out for the better interests of others including those whom we may not know. Of course we all can't inform, look out, or come to the aid of all others all of the time, but we should if/where we can.

I use to feel if I believe I had important and pertinent info to share with others even those I may not know, that I should with clarity and passion share said info. If it helps then great.

Today I still share important info but sorry I do not bang my head against a proverbial wall anymore. I have found and still find that most people can't bother to really save themselves from little issues right up to major ones in life. Why should I bang my head against a wall and suffer for those who could not seem to care any less if their words/actions may give poor results in their lives?

Use things like FB at your own discretion is all I can really offer in the end.

I tried Facebook and cancelled because I felt (as an IT professional) that the security settings did not meet my own needs for an absolute lock down. Now FB gets worse.... The new policy seems very arrogant?? A FB user (free service or not) is a customer and will go elsewhere if dissatisfied.....

I agree with the prior poster. Get a personal website and lock it down ....

See here, https://www.abine.com/how-donottrackme-works/ , and pick what best suits your needs.Aside from that, the reasonable decision is to remove your contents and account from FB, and then be prepared for an avalanche of reminders, prods, and other "important" messages about how you should re-join. :P

I had a WasteBook account while it was fun, and I've deleted the commercial stuff a long time ago. I also stopped posting my work out of respect for some friends/clients whom didn't want their photos, or private lives shared outside their family, etc. Email, a phone call and a secure Zenfolio gallery does wonders.

If you do have FB account, and swear it's a lifeline to leads and clients who provide you income that meets or exceeds your cost of doing business, (and not those whom try to take advantage of your "friends" status). Here are some things you can do:

1. Replace your profile pic with an avatar or something other than your face, to prevent it from winding up in something embarrassing to your reputation. 2. Post small images with fat watermarks and links to a protected gallery. 3. Be careful what you say by being your own PR rep.4. Opt out of everything, kill the apps, and make sure that your settings for tagging and posting on your wall, require your approval, first.

I never did get Facebook. I am currently involved in a legal dispute. One of the first things my attorney asked me is whether I had a Facebook site. I told her I didn't and that I never understood why anybody would want to expose their private life to millions of strangers. She nodded approvingly. Apparently, even if you make your profile "private" you can be forced to reveal it under the rules of disclosure. This latest revelation makes it even worse. I laugh at those who talk about "Facebook bashing" being the latest trend. What is wrong with you?

Members of my family have profiles on Facebook. They put pictures of their kids on it. I don't get that. I don't get it at all.

"I laugh at those who talk about "Facebook bashing" being the latest trend. What is wrong with you?

Actually, I said Apple bashing is trendy, and FB-bashing is cool. Anyway, what's wrong with me? Nothing. But what's wrong with you? Plenty of folks here are bashing FB. Did I not state a fact here? I didn't say if they're right or wrong to bash FB, did I?

My wife and I deleted our Facebook accounts months ago. Friends and family members are doing the same thing. We set up our own web site which is private and allows forums and picture sharing (and tons of other stuff) for $20 a year.

Personal web sites are cheap. Watch out for vendors like Go*addy - by the time you are finished you'll feel like you've been to a MacDona*ds and asked if you wanted cheese with that 7,000 times. A year later you'll be amazed at the extra charges you'll be hit with.

Even if you have your own web site, search engines will allow your friends to find you.

Personally, if I were to get Facebook-sourced information, I'd know it's about people who are for the most part clueless and who cannot contribute much.

Also, there is no feedback. If you put your face on a billboard you will know more about the people seeing you than if you put your face on FB. I have StatCounter on my website and am very comfortable updating my site to reflect the interest of my anonymous visitors.

What's trendy these days more than facebook or Apple bashing is rights grabbing. That's where the money is. Social media sites and "photo contest" organizers all over the place are doing it. If you think your photos have any value whatsoever, be very, very careful who you give them to.

My solution is to post only a very small number of unimportant and watermarked photos direct to facebook and to post only a link to the good stuff on my website.

It would be VERY helpful if someone would make a good article about how to protect our images and privacy for REAL in facebook!

When will someone create something that allows us to connect with ppl in fakebook but not posting actually nothing in it, just having links that automatically would link our friends to it?That could be a solution!

They belong to us, to them, everybody. Once you upload something to fb (or online in general, google will index it ) it's just stops to be yours, it's ours !!!. They've indexed us and now have started indexing under-net

You are some really ignorant people. Did you really think that was your "Aunt Sally" suggesting that you might be interested in purple widgets. Facebook has been posting on my friends news feed on my behalf for a long time. Nothing new.Not sure why anyone would post anything of value on a public web site. If you do, then you deserve what ever abuse they heap upon you.

I can't believe so many people have gravitated to these social media sites, they're just data collection agencies. I have friends who have tried to cancel their membership and could never get their content removed, so I guess once you sign up you're a Facebook member for life. Just create a website for yourself, they're cheap enough today with Wordpress, and then use e-mail to correspond.